Where have all the RE teachers gone? Recruitment and retention issues in schools in England

Abstract This paper, which was originally a keynote address, offers an analysis of the crisis in retention, and recruitment of teachers of Religious Education (RE). A reflexive assessment is offered to the political lament ‘where have all the RE teachers gone?’ The author, drawing on over three decades of experience and involvement with religious education both in school and higher education, ponders on the complexity of responding to the attrition rates where skilled RE teachers leave the profession at a much faster rate than new entrants are trained. It concludes by calling for unity of purpose amongst the wider RE community in England.